Hi, i've had asthma for around 7yrs, a little bit about myself: I contracted it when I had a really bad flu, I'm on seretide and salbutamol, its very rare I use the salbutamol, and rarely get the swollen throat any more, but it does effect my chest if I don't take precautions like when I'm round pollen, fur etc if I'm really carefull and avoid them I'm fine but the main one for me is smells, strong aftershave & perfume, bleach, cigarette smoke, fires etc which as you can imagine I cannot avoid them all the time.nnThis is where my problem is, where I work they've introduced open plan working, we are working in an enclosed area of the office, great under normal curcumstances but I've got the problem that the guy that sits opposite me insists on putting a bottle of really strong aftershave on, as soon as you walk through the door you can smell it and I'm really struggling, I managed to move the other day to another desk a bit further away but thats not always possible when its fully staffed. nnHe does insist on wearing it because he has sweat problems, the only other thing I can think of is leave work but I can't do this every day when he wears it, any idea's what I can do?nnThanks in advance

2 Replies

Sorry to hear that you are having problems? nnHave you discussed this with your boss? That would be the first thing I would do. Explain the situation and see if you can't be moved to a different desk on a permanent basis. If necessary get a letter from your doctor to support you. If the chap does have a sweat problem then he's in a bit of a predicament as well, but his condition is unlikely to result in a hospital admission or be fatal (unless it is a symptom of a more serious underlying medical condition). Asthma, on the other hand, can lead to both.

a year agoHidden

Sorry haven't replied earlier, i couldn't log in :(nnAnyway the last time i moved i told my boss why i was moving, but nothing else. I'm guessing i'm going to have to say somthing but i'm not sure what I've been really bad today its just starting to ease off now, but i've been in alot of pain with the heaviness in my chest and had to use both my inhalers quite a lot more than usual, not been this bad for ages.nnJust have to think of a polite way of telling him now.